


Shifting Tides

by Ree_Dragon



Series: The Path of the Hero [2]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: Accidental fantasy racism, Female Agent 8 (Splatoon), Gen, I THINK Teen is the appropriate rating but let me know if I'm wrong, Romance to come in later stories, minor use of OCs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:20:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26707369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ree_Dragon/pseuds/Ree_Dragon
Summary: The New Squidbeak Splatoon's newest agents undergo a training mission through one of the kettles.  It should be easy and relatively uneventful, but since when does life go as expected for these cephalopods?
Relationships: Agent 8 & Pearl (Splatoon), Callie & Marie (Splatoon), Marina & Cap'n Cuttlefish (Splatoon), Marina & Pearl (Splatoon)
Series: The Path of the Hero [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1934917
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	Shifting Tides

Marina had been a member of the New Squidbeak Splatoon for a couple weeks now. It didn’t feel like it - Off the Hook was still the face of Inkopolis News, and still doing concerts, and still working on Splatfest ideas and stages whenever there was time, so she and Pearl had put in only a few days of work in that time. Still, in those days, they’d attended another meeting and had been on a couple patrols through the canyon itself. She’d also been able to write up the schematics for the flooder line of squid-splatting technology she’d worked on during her time as a combat engineer, and these were now safely in the hands of Captain Cuttlefish. Or Agent Three. Both had been present on the day of delivery, but while Captain Cuttlefish was their leader, Three’s apartment had the advantage of not being so close to Octavio, so stashing anything important there would keep him from destroying it if he managed to break free of his snow globe again.

Then there was today - the day they were supposed to do their first training mission. Pearl would get to see the inside of the kettles for the first time, and Eight for the first time since Kamabo. Marina thought that she’d be going with them, but Callie and Marie were worried about how well-known she was among the octarians and wanted her first time back to the kettles to be with one of them, or Agent Three or Four. That meant being separated from her precious Pearlie while she and Agent Eight went off into danger…which she supposed she needed to get used to. They wouldn’t be working together for every mission, would they? For some reason, that thought hadn’t really occurred to her until the mission was explained to them, but in hindsight it should have been obvious.

_At least it_ _’s only training…_ Marina sighed and stared at the screen in front of her, grateful that she at least had that. She could keep an eye on Pearl and Agent Eight while they went through the kettle and make sure nothing snuck up on them. Not only that, Marie had chosen the least populated kettle for their training, to ease them into this whole agent thing. Compared to everything else Agent Eight had been through, this wouldn’t even remotely be a problem for her alone, so with her and Pearl together? Yeah, they were probably safe. With any luck, Pearl might even treat this seriously and be careful with her dodge rolls.

_Might._

Marina shuddered and shoved that thought aside. It’d be fine. Pearl would be fine. She may have been impulsive, but she wasn’t stupid. Even if her carelessness did manifest today, Agent Eight would look out for her. Callie and Marie may be near her rather than in the kettles, but they knew their way around the canyon, so they’d be available if things got real bad. And they wouldn’t, because it. Would. Be. _Fine_.

Marina drew in a deep breath, held it for a moment, and blew it out in a sigh. Okay. She was okay. They were okay. She could see them now, landing on one of the taller rooftops in the kettle. The city here took up the entire space, mostly with residential spaces and mostly far, far below. Any octolings trying to reach the surface would be making their way up to the rooftops, though, so that was the focus.

_That, and that_ _’s where pretty much all the danger is when the kettle’s not collapsing…_ And no, Marina. Bad Marina. Don’t think about any of that. Everything would go perfectly, and then her Pearlie would be right back at her side, and Agent Eight would be just as safe. She just needed to help guide them through the kettle so they could return to the outpost.

“Is this really the place you grew up, Rina?” Pearl stared around at the inside of the kettle with wide eyes, prompting a grin from the former combat engineer. The inside of the kettle was much, much bigger than the outside would suggest, so of course it would fascinate someone new to the concept.

“Not this particular kettle, no.” Marina shook her head, forgetting for the moment that her bandmate wouldn’t be able to see her. “But you get the idea.”

“I am not liking the air in this place…” Eight’s voice was quiet and apprehensive. She kept close to Pearl, likely drawing comfort from the squid’s presence.

“You’ll be fine, Agent Eight,” Marie spoke from beside Marina. “Focus on the goal, and you’ll be back with us in no time.”

Pearl smiled at the octoling, resting a hand on her shoulder. “Least you’re with me and not alone.”

Eight nodded. “I am full of grate for that.” She walked forward, stopping near a launchpad and peering down at the city below. “Just this top level, yes?”

“That’s right,” Marie confirmed. “Though if anything suspicious catches your eye, let us know. We can see you from Tentakeel, but a screen doesn’t provide near the level of visibility as being there.”

“Follow the sky road and keep an eye out for anything weird. Got it.” Pearl stepped onto the launchpad. “You ready, Eight?”

Eight joined Pearl. “I am believing so.”

“We’ll get through this, and then we can hang out somewhere together,” Pearl assured her. “Anywhere you want. All right?”

Eight nodded, and the two melted into their cephalopod forms. The pad launched them onto the roof of a tall building - one of many in this area. Pink ink covered most of the floor, though Eight was already making quick work of it - firing a steady stream of teal ink over the pink to make a path for them. Pearl whipped out her dualies to help, and between them they managed to clear the way in moments.

_So far so good_ _…_ Marina watched the two work, studying the screen for any sign of movement beyond her allies. It was weirdly empty, though…there should have been at least an octotrooper in their path. Maybe it was hiding?

Eight melted into her octopus form and swam through the ink. Pearl walked after her, dualies out and ready as she glanced around for any sign of movement. Marina frowned, her hearts clenching as unease filled her. They should have encountered _something_ by now.

“That’s weird…” Marie commented as they reached the other side of the inked section of roof. “No sign of octoslobs anywhere.”

Marina’s attention snapped to Marie, unsure of what she just heard. That sounded like…huh. Marie’s hands were over her mouth, her eyes wide and her face a very vivid shade of green. Meanwhile, Callie started cackling.

“Octo what?” Eight’s voice was slightly distorted through the communicator, but she sounded as confused as Marina felt.

“Yeah, octo _what_?” Pearl’s tone was the iciest Marina had ever heard, and she cringed, remembering Pearl’s threat to Captain Cuttlefish during their chat sessions.

“I…am so, so sorry.” Marie’s voice was quiet and muffled behind her hands.

“Wow, and you thought…I’d be the first to slip up,” Callie spoke as her cackles allowed. “You owe me lunch and a latte tomorrow!”

“I know…” Marie withdrew her hands from her face, though her blush remained. “How about I also treat everyone here to dinner somewhere nice tonight?”

“Sorry guys, we’ve been calling octarians that since we first started this gig,” Callie explained. “We don’t think that way anymore, but…habits, you know? We’re all trying, but it’s a process, so definitely call us out if any of us slips up again.”

Marina smiled at Marie, hoping to calm her down at least a little. “We _were_ in a war against each other, and there were worse insults you could have used. Either way, I know how you really feel, and I’m sure Eight does, too.”

Eight was quick to chime in. “Don’t worry, I’m not taking any offense. I’m just happy to be working with my friends.”

“Thank you.” Marie took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. “I’ll do better to watch my words from now on.”

Marina giggled, an idea coming to her that would hopefully snap Marie out of her embarrassment. “Marie, you are one of my heroes, and I love you very much—”

“Great,” Pearl’s voice came over the communicator. “I’m glad that’s sett—”

“—you slimy hipster.”

“Marina, oh my _COD_!” Pearl’s outburst was all but drowned out a cacophony of laughter from inklings and octolings alike.

Marie - the only other cephalopod not laughing - gawked at Marina for a moment, and then her eyes flicked toward the snow globe that still held DJ Octavio, and she shook her head, a small smile gracing her features. And hey - she wasn’t blushing as brightly anymore! Mission accomplished.

Marina giggled. “Sorry, Pearlie. I couldn’t resist.”

“Yeah, I bet you couldn’t,” Pearl quipped. “Are we done being specist assholes to each other now? We got a mission to complete!”

“Yes, let’s get back to that,” Marie responded. “Keep moving forward, but be careful. You should have seen at least one octarian by now, and the fact that you haven’t bothers me.”

Pearl and Eight continued forward, crossing a walkway from the roof of one building to another. A launchpad rested in the middle of this roof, and they used it to launch themselves onto a smaller roof higher up. There was a device in the middle of the roof here that should have served as a checkpoint, but…

“It’s not working…” Eight nudged the device with her foot. A red light flickered inside it for a moment, and then it went dark again. Marina’s hearts skipped two beats - something had tampered with the checkpoints, so respawning would not be possible.

“That’s not ominous at all,” Marie muttered.

“The one at the entrance is still good, right?” Callie asked.

“It looked normal to me,” Marina answered. “The problem with that is that they’re already out of its working range. If they get splatted here…”

“We’ll be practicing care,” Eight assured her. “And I will be guarding Agent Five with my life.”

Pearl snorted. “The shell you will. We’ll protect each other.”

“Just make sure you both get back to us safely,” Marina responded. “Okay, there’s a mesh floor attached to that roof you’re on. There should be a small splatoon of octotroopers below.”

Pearl stepped to the edge of the roof and looked down. “Nope.”

“Of course there’s not.” Marina bit her lip. “I smell a trap.” Truthfully, she smelled the trap with the lack of a guard earlier, and the malfunctioning checkpoint, but this whole situation was making her skin crawl. She wished she’d been allowed to join Pearl and Agent Eight. She knew the kettles, and the fastest ways to escape should they need it. She could direct them from the outpost, yes, but it would have been so much faster if she’d just been down there.

“We have Octavio, though,” Callie responded to her comment. “Couldn’t it be that the patrols and guard shifts have just stopped in his absence?”

“Four’s been doing regular patrols after your rescue,” Marie stated. “The guards are posted in the same positions every time. This is new.”

Agent Eight moved forward, octoshot held at the ready. She walked off the mesh floor, firing below her so she’d land in a puddle of her own ink rather than the octarian pink ink that covered the ground below. Pearl jumped through the hole in the mesh floor and landed a short distance behind Agent Eight, sprinting to catch up as the former walked on past a pile of orange wood.

“So Eight, feel free to scream at me if this is a touchy subject, but is this place sparking any memories for you?” Callie asked as the duo on screen continued across the rooftop.

“The Squid Sisters are too cool to scream at, and I am not minding the subject, but…” Agent Eight shook her head. “It is not. This kettle is completely unfamiliar.”

Marina winced. “Still don’t remember everything, Agent Eight?”

“I’m remembering some things,” the younger octoling answered. “But the others are clouded. If I’m not thinking of them, I’m catching a feeling, or a shadow, and then I try focusing and I’m losing all of it. However, I’m not minding much.” Her pace slowed. “I’m actually fearing the knowing, now.”

Callie frowned. “Isn’t it a good thing to know who you are?”

“I am knowing and liking who I am,” Eight responded. “The scary part is the knowing of who I _was_ , and discovering that the octoling I used to be may be…less than good?”

That hit hard. Marina wished she could be in the kettle with Eight and Pearl so she could offer the former a hug. “Oh, Agent Eight - I’m sure your past self was just as lovely as your current self.”

Eight’s expression looked pained. “I am already knowing that I stole zapfish.”

Pearl fulfilled Marina’s wish then by giving the younger octoling a hug herself. “You were hypnotized back then. That was never your fault. I can’t say I knew who you were, but current Eight’s awesomeness didn’t spring from nothing.”

“Pearl’s right,” Marie commented. “You wouldn’t hold this against a newly-freed octarian, would you?”

Eight took a moment to return Pearl’s hug with a brief squeeze and she shook her head. “I am knowing that, but it is hard to be thinking otherwise.”

Callie smiled. “We’ll get you there. In the meantime, keep pressing forward.”

“And keep vigilant,” Marie reminded them.

“Y’all worry too much.” Pearl waved with one of her dualies. “But yeah, let’s keep going.”

The pair turned a corner, and then another. The launchpad at the end of their walkway remained unguarded, so they took it, landing on the roof of the building they’d just maneuvered around. A short distance away, the roof was coated in even more pink ink, but - again - no octotroopers to provide any sort of resistance.

_If there is an ambush, it_ _’s gotta be around here…_ Marina thought to herself as she watched both cephalopods move forward, toward the ink. _Pearlie, Agent Eight, please please_ please _be careful!_

Eight stopped just short of reaching the ink, eyes wide and body rigid. One hand went to the opposite wrist, tugging at the tag that Marina still hadn’t been able to remove despite a week of effort.

_Worry about that later, Marina._ She scolded herself. She needed to focus. Something was wrong.

“Eight?” Callie called to the octoling.

Pearl, who had just reached the ink, turned back to face her companion. “Yo Eight, what’s up?”

“I was hearing…” Eight looked around, and then shook her head. “But it was faint. Maybe I misheard? But it was sounding like a scream.”

A scream? Marina felt a shiver run down her back. “Nothing came through on our end.”

“She did say it was faint,” Callie pondered out loud. “Could you tell where it was coming from?”

Eight shook her head. “And I’m not hearing it now.”

“Keep moving,” Marie ordered, “ _carefully_.”

Working together, the pair of agents fired a teal path across the pink that blocked their way. An odd noise came over the speakers as Pearl and Eight crossed the inked ground. It was hard to identify at first, but it was evidently coming from somewhere up ahead because the noise grew louder as the agents continued on their way, and it sounded like…rumbling.

Marina’s ink froze. Oh…oh no. She knew that sound. Part of the kettle was collapsing! Another couple sounds joined in seconds later, and those were definitely screams!

Pearl and Eight exchanged glances, and then both charged ahead, straight for the source of the sounds. Of course they did - heroism was in their ink. Marina whimpered, wanting to join them but knowing the Squid Sisters wouldn’t allow it.

Marie rested a hand on Marina’s shoulder, while Callie headed inside Cuttlefish Cabin. The green Squid Sister’s face was hard to read, but all of her focus was on the screen, and Marina tried to keep her focus there as well. As much as she worried over the two agents in the kettle, memories surged through her, flashes from her past shooting to the front of her mind despite her wishes. The whole kettle wouldn’t collapse on them, would it? They’d been designed by the best engineers of the time. Though…that was a century ago, and partial collapses were painfully common. What if a partial collapse took out the buildings they were walking on?

“Marina, breathe and concentrate.” Marie’s words were kind, but her tone was stern and commanding. “They’re counting on you to watch their backs until Callie and I can get to them.”

“I know. Sorry.” Marina nodded and focused on her breathing for just a moment, watching over Pearl and Agent Eight as they moved to the end of the path and onto a launchpad - the launchpad that was normally locked up with the key hidden in a hard-to-break crate. This pad took them to a floating platform - one just before one of the most important office buildings in the dome. The roof there was wide and long, and it normally featured a couple towers and raised platforms to provide at least some cover. It was meant to be a defensible location, in case of an invasion.

And now…Marina wasn’t even sure she could describe the chaos she was seeing. The taller of the two pillars on the roof was broken and rested on one of its sides, its former top resting close to the second pillar. Not far behind the fallen pillar, the rest of the platform had crumbled away entirely, preventing any further progress. The entirety of the roof was covered in an unusual, sickly green goop she hadn’t seen since helping Agent Eight and Captain Cuttlefish escape the Deepsea Metro. That alone was enough for dread to fill her entire being, but she didn’t have the luxury of dwelling on it, because things were so much worse than simply seeing the goop again. The roof was swarming! More octolings than she could count were moving over the ink, heading toward the fallen pillar with their weapons drawn.

Agent Eight charged right toward the sanitized army, octoshot aimed and firing at the nearest of the octolings as she hummed Calamari Inkantation. Pearl rushed in after her, dodge-rolling in random directions every couple seconds as she provided cover fire.

Callie rejoined Marina and Marie briefly, roller and charger in hand one hand and two ink tanks and a bag hanging from the other arm. The latter two - and one of the ink tanks - were passed to Marie before they both super jumped toward the kettle. Marina took a deep breath, giving the screen as much focus as she could muster. Her fellow agents were counting on her, and she’d never forgive herself if even one of them failed to make it home.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Pearl had known they were in for a real shit show as soon as she’d spotted the green ink. After seeing that, the swarm of sanitized octolings didn’t surprise her.

What did surprise her was Eight. The octoling had frozen for a moment, so still that Pearl wasn’t even sure if she was breathing. Then she’d started humming, and Pearl barely had time to recognize Calamari Inkantation before her companion charged right at the octolings, ink spraying from her octoshot and breaking up the green ooze with trails of teal. Pearl kept close to her, dodge rolling to make herself a hard target to hit and trying to draw at least some of the attention away from her teammate. She couldn’t even imagine what was going through Eight’s mind right now. Underground, gross green “ink” everywhere, sanitized and hostile octolings…this was pretty much Kamabo all over again.

“C— Agents One and Two are on their way,” Marina spoke through their communicator. “In the meantime, please be careful.”

“We got this,” Pearl meant to assure both octolings. “Rina, we might need the song.” Eight may have been humming it for herself, but that wouldn’t be quite as effective as her hearing the song in full.

“On it.”

A moment later, Calamari Inkantation began to play through the communicator. Hopefully, it’d give Eight the strength she needed to get through the sanitized army, but in the meantime Pearl needed to watch over them both. She splatted a roller that was making a beeline for Eight, and then turned to splat a slosher that had gotten way too close to her for comfort. Another octoling was swimming through the ink toward her, but her dualies made short work of this one, as well.

So…okay, this wasn’t too bad. It was like high-stakes Turf War. She just had to not think about where those octo souls were going to end up. Not that she wasn’t willing to splat someone to keep her friend safe - especially since Marina couldn’t find any actual signs of life in these sanitized people, anyway - but knowingly splatting someone without knowing if they could ever reform again wasn’t a pleasant thought, even with the possibility that a permanent death would be a mercy for these octolings.

Pearl shook her head and looked around. Never mind that - she had a job to do. Where was Eight?

Oh, there. She just caught a glimpse of the octoling as she moved around the fallen pillar. Good idea. They could take these guys out easier with some cover. She dodge rolled to the left to avoid an incoming octobrush user and then made a trail straight ahead, leading to the pillar. She swam to it, turned around to splat another couple octolings that had been following her, and then inked a trail up the pillar. After that, she melted into her squid form and swam through her trail, resuming her kid form at the top of the pillar and dropping down the other side.

“Ow! Wha—” Pearl found herself having to create a fresh trail of ink and dodge roll as soon as she landed to avoid a stream of pink ink flying her way. She wasn’t able to dodge all of it - the ink had started hitting her during her fall - but she at least managed to avoid being splatted, and she kept rolling until shouting from Eight distracted her attacker.

_Sheesh_ _…_ Pearl sank into her ink for a moment, refilling her tank now that she was relatively safe. As soon as that was done, she leaped out of the ink, resuming her kid form before landing and watching Eight explain…something to…

…Oh.

_Oh!_

Yeah, that made sense.

Two non-sanitized octolings had also taken shelter behind the fallen pillar. A boy - medium-tan with wide hazel eyes, sporting the mantle hairstyle she’d seen around Inkopolis - was crouched next to Eight, gripping a splatling tightly in both hands. Behind him was an octoling that seemed to be female, though her own tentacles were styled into a mohawk, and she wore pants rather than the skirt that Marina and Eight wore when she first met them. A broken ink tank rested beside her, though Pearl saw no trace of any weapon that might have belonged to her. The more Pearl looked at her, though, the more her hearts ached. The boy was splattered in green and missing most of his right ear, but any other damage done to his own body was minor. The girl…she was laying on her side, and her sickly, unnaturally pale skin was nearly completely coated in both pink and green. One silver eye squinted against the mess around it as she stared briefly at Pearl, then at the boy and Eight before her whole posture deflated and she closed the eye again.

The boy and Eight exchanged a few phrases, and then Eight waved her over. Pearl took a few steps forward, though she didn’t want to get too close and make the other two octolings nervous.

Eight gestured to the girl, her expression pained. “We are needing to help now.”

Pearl snorted and rolled her eyes. “Well, yeah! Eight, that’s literally the reason we’re here.”

Eight shook her head. “I am meaning, we are needing to help…immediately?”

_Oh_. Pearl nodded. “One and Two are on their way, like Six said. I don’t think we can do much more than keep the sanitized octos at bay until they get here.”

Eight bit her lip, but nodded, her focus shifting from Pearl to the pillar. Bits of green goop could be seen flying upward on the other side, and some was actually starting to stick to the pillar itself.

_Shit. They_ _’re close!_ Pearl looked around, searching for a good spot to charge from that wouldn’t get her immediately splatted or take her too far away from the octolings she was supposed to protect.

Without a word, Eight fired at the pillar a short distance away from the other octolings, creating a teal trail that she swam up. Immediately, multiple streams of green flew her way, and she ducked back into her ink and jumped away to avoid them, trying again a bit farther down the pillar. Pearl frowned as she watched, wondering what the octoling was up to.

“Looks like Agent Eight’s trying to draw their attention away,” Marina answered Pearl’s unasked question.

Pearl nodded. “All right. I’ll see who I can splat while they’re distracted!”

“Actually, I think you should stick close to the others,” Marina suggested. “It doesn’t look like Eight has all their attention, and we don’t want to leave those octolings open to attack.”

Pearl frowned at that. “And leave Eight to deal with this alone?”

“Agent Eight will be fine.” The shakiness in Marina’s voice betrayed the vote of confidence she was giving. “She has years of combat experience, and Agents One and Two are about halfway there. You just have to hold out a few moments longer.”

Pearl huffed out a breath. A few moments? Fine, but then she was hopping that pillar and laying waste to everything hostile. In the meantime, she started pacing, keeping an eye on the pillar and her fingers on her triggers, just in case anything tried to climb over. There were times when she saw a spray of green, but that was almost always followed up by a yell or yelp - usually from the sanitized octoling, though occasionally from her friend - and then the sound of the sanitized octoling splatting.

Though…that sound did make her hearts stop for a few precious seconds while she waited to listen for a shriek or sob from Marina that would tell her it wasn’t the sanitized octoling that splatted.

Seconds dragged on like hours. The unfamiliar octolings were still - one from her injuries and one from uncertainty. Marina kept sickeningly quiet on the other end, likely wanting to avoid distracting Eight, who was still trying to draw away the sanitized octolings while staying alive herself. Pearl paced back and forth, wanting to help but knowing it was important to keep someone fight-ready near the injured octolings to help them if they needed it.

Even if it turned out they didn’t need help. Eight was doing a really impressive job keeping the enemy occupied. Pearl knew that Eight was tough, and really super good at all this stuff, but trauma was a bitch.

“Booyah!” Callie’s voice somehow made itself heard over the din of battle, followed by the distinctive sounds of bombs about to go off, and then at least three simultaneous splats. Pearl beamed at the sounds. “It’s about damn time!”

“Be nice, Agent Five,” Marina scolded. “They got there as soon as they could.”

The sounds of ink being fired continued, though they were more distant now, and coming from two different places. Pearl guessed that Callie and Marie had helped Eight take care of the closest enemies, and now they were driving them back and out of the way somewhere…or putting them all out of their misery.

Eh, she’d think about it later.

Teal ink fired over the pillar, and a squid swam up and over. Marie assumed her kid form on her way down and landed neatly next to the octolings. The boy stood, placing himself between Marie and his companion, but Eight - her movements clumsy and nearly half her body coated in green - joined her a moment later, and a few words from her put the boy at ease.

“How’s it lookin’ out there?” Pearl asked as Marie crouched down near the octolings and shrugged off the bag that had been strapped to her shoulders.

“There are being a few left.” Eight sat - or collapsed - near Marie, her octoshot falling to the ground beside her, and she started frantically brushing off the ink that had yet to dissolve.

“Whoa, Eight, careful! You’ll just get more of that stuff all over you.” Pearl sprinted a few steps, hurrying to her friend’s side, and helped her deal with the thickest clumps of ooze. It stung her hands, but she ignored the pain - the ink wouldn’t do any permanent damage to her, since she’d fully recovered by now. Eight, however, would likely be splatted if it spread over much more of her body.

Finally, the worst of the ink had been taken care of, and Eight set her ink tank aside so she could lay back on the floor, her right leg - darkening with the beginnings of some nasty-looking bruises - stretched out at a semi-awkward angle.

“Thank you, Pearl.” Eight sighed. “That was the intense.”

“Are you all right, Agent Eight?” Marina’s voice came through their communicator.

“Don’t be worrying about me.” Eight glanced toward the pillar. “Agent One?”

“Almost done!” Pearl heard another series of bombs being set off right after Callie spoke, followed by explosions and a couple more splats. “I see one more octoling out here, but I think we took care of the rest of them. I’ll be over there in a sec.”

“One last enemy confirmed on my end,” Marina stated. “Good job, you guys. Wish I could have been there to help.”

“You are helping.” Marie was using a sponge to soak up the ink coating the injured octoling. A couple saturated sponges sat beside her, and a fresh one sat on a towel in front of her. “Mission control’s an important job.”

“How are you doing up there, Rina?” Pearl asked. “Other than feeling restless?”

“I’m the safest one here,” Marina pointed out. “I’m fine.”

Pearl nodded. “You’ve been quiet, though.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Marina responded. “I didn’t want to get Agent Eight killed.”

Pearl nodded. “Fair enough.”

A final splat could be heard - barely - in the distance, followed by a cheer from the dark-tentacled inkling.

“I think you’re in the clear,” Marina said. “I can’t find any traces of cephalopods anywhere besides you guys, sanitized or otherwise.”

“Good.” Pearl sat down beside Eight. “It does bug me, though. Where are the octarians?”

“They could be hiding,” Callie supplied hopefully. “There’s a whole big city down there.”

“They could be…” Marie had moved on from the sponges to a cloth. She’d managed to reveal more of the wounded octoling’s skin, and the latter had yet to splat, so that was a good sign…right? “I’ll call in Agents Three and Four, and we’ll give this area a more thorough sweep as soon as we can.”

“Do you really think we’ll need both of ‘em?” Callie’s voice was audible outside the headset as well as in it, and a moment later she was climbing up and over the pillar to join them, her roller strapped to her back.

“I don’t want to take any chances,” Marie replied. “The fact that these…sanitized octolings are out here away from Kamabo worries me.”

“I’ll come too,” Eight offered. “You will be wanting an army, yes?”

Callie shot her a sharp look. “Eight, you’re a great agent, but while you’re injured you’re a liability. You’re going home after this and resting that leg.”

“It’s not being that bad, though,” Eight protested. “I can still—”

“Eight.” Marie’s voice was sharp, and both Eight and Pearl flinched. “That was an order.”

Eight’s ears drooped and she nodded. “Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”

Callie patted Eight on the shoulder. “It’s because we care about you. We want you to heal, and we wouldn’t be able to focus if we had to worry about you.” She turned from Eight to Marie. “How’s the patient doing?”

“I cleaned off all the ink I can,” Marie replied. “The rest should disappear on its own soon enough. I want to get these wounds bandaged, and then we need to figure out a way out of here. The normal route doesn’t exist anymore.”

“I know a few ways back, but they involve going through the buildings,” Marina offered.

“We’ll take what we can get.” Marie rummaged through her bag, pulling out rolls of bandages. “Callie, come here and help me with her—”

“Him, actually,” Eight cut in.

Huh? Him? Pearl looked from Eight to the octoling, considering the definitely feminine body shape and the definitely masculine hairstyle and clothing. …Huh. Okay.

Marie blinked at Eight, eyes widened with the same surprise Pearl felt. After a couple seconds, she sighed and nodded. “Right. My mistake. We’ll get _him_ stabilized, and then figure out somewhere comfortable to house our guests while they recover. We would take them to the nearest hospital, but I don’t know of a single doctor that’s well versed in the anatomy of octarians.”

“They can live with me for now. I’ll clear out one of the guest suites,” Pearl offered as Callie joined Marie, the former lifting the wounded octoling up just enough to allow the latter to start bandaging his wounds. The octoling whimpered as he was jostled, and his companion knelt down next to him, holding his hand and whispering what Pearl assumed were reassurances. 

“I’ll come over to help,” Marina offered. “I’ll need to return to my apartment at some point to water my plants, but I can pack a few things and we can make a night of it.”

“Thank you, Agents Five and Six.” Marie dipped her head briefly to Pearl. “That’s actually a huge worry off my mind. I’m not entirely comfortable housing unknown octarians so close to DJ Octavio, and our apartment has no spare room.”

Pearl shook her head. “Not a problem. Most of our rooms are used for storage, but they used to be set aside for my parents’ friends and the occasional business partner or something, and most of the furniture is still present and in okay condition. Why not put it to use for this?”

“Way to be.” Marie continued her work, at times reaching awkwardly around Callie or the other octoling. The conversation died down as Marie focused on tending to the octoling’s wounds, and by the time she was done more of his body was bandaged than not. Pearl wasn’t surprised - he’d been really bad off.

“I think that’s the best I can do.” Marie packed up the medical supplies and slung the bag back over her shoulders. “Let’s get out of here before more of the kettle crumbles and possibly traps us in for good. One of us will have to carry him, but…” The pale-tentacled Squid Sister eyed the mantle-haired octoling. “Callie, Eight, can one or both of you let them know what’s going on?”

Callie turned to Eight. “Did you want to? They might trust you a bit more than us.”

“I’m being happy to.” Eight stood up, equipped her weapon and ink tank again, and started speaking in octarian. Pearl didn’t understand the words, but she at least knew expressions, and the mantle-haired boy looked…well…uncertain. He did nod, though, and he bent down near his companion to…ask something? The mohawked octoling spoke a couple words and nodded, and the boy turned to the squids and…she guessed gave them the go-ahead.

“They’re the ready,” Eight translated.

“Good.” Marie packed up her bag and placed it back on her back. “Callie, do you mind carrying him?”

Callie shook her head. “Of course not.”

Marie bent down and - gently as she could - started to lift the wounded octoling off the floor. The mantle-haired octoling helped, and his companion did what he could to support his own weight, biting back his cries of pain as he was moved. Getting the wounded octoling upright was the hard part, though, and it only took a moment to get him situated on Callie’s back, the latter keeping stooped to balance the octoling and gripping her charge’s legs to keep him from slipping back down.

“Everyone ready?” Marie looked around at the cephalopods assembled. Everyone voiced their assent, and she started back the way they’d all come. “Six, we’re heading your way.”

“Got it,” Marina replied. “So here’s the easiest way back…”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Sanitized octolings in the kettles? Are you sure?” Captain Cuttlefish’s gaze flicked from Marina to the bedroom Pearl had chosen to house the octolings. Inside, mantle-haired octoling was sitting in a chair beside the bed, keeping a close eye on his wounded love as the latter slept fitfully under about three comforters - the poor boy had been freezing after losing so much of his own ink and being covered with so much of that green ick that pretended to be ink.

That green ick that she really should have more respect for, given what it was made from…but it was just as deadly as enemy ink, and it had come dangerously close to claiming yet another victim today.

“I mean, most of the splatoon was in there and got a good, up-close look at the octolings and their ink,” Marina replied. “I can take you down there if you’d like to see for yourself.”

Captain Cuttlefish shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. I trust Agent Two to give me a thorough report when she returns with Agents One and Four.”

Marina nodded. “I’m glad you insisted that Three be left out of this. It’s bad enough that Eight had to deal with it.”

The tentacles that served as Captain Cuttlefish’s mustache twitched. “Someone had to help Eight get home, and Four is more familiar with this particular kettle than Three, so it was the logical choice.”

Marina smiled at that. “And if the logical choice agrees with the emotional one, all the better, right?” Truthfully, Eight could probably have limped her way home. Her leg would be badly bruised in a day or two, and there could well be some internal damage beyond that, but it wasn’t broken, and it wouldn’t take too long for her to be fully functional again. Barring that, Marina would have been happy to give her fellow octoling a ride back home herself. Saving Three from her own heroic nature had been necessary, though, and this way they even got to use that heroic nature against itself.

“Indeed.” Captain Cuttlefish yawned and stretched, his gaze darting briefly to the window. It was still daytime…barely - late afternoon, not long before dusk. Getting the newly-freed octolings out of the kettle had been interesting, and it involved way too many stairs and Marina’s not-so-fresh memory of the kettle layout to achieve. They’d done it in the end, though, and from there they were able to bring the pair to Pearl’s place and even treat the mantle-haired octoling’s injuries. Poor guy…that ear wouldn’t be coming back, and the fact that he was still the least hurt of the two was kind of…well…brutal.

But what wasn’t brutal in octarian society, really? And he’d be fine - they both would. They’d each live a full, happy life here, hopefully together. The inklings in this day and age didn’t care about species, if they even knew, and every octoling she’d seen on the surface so far seemed to have someone they could rely on.

Just like she had her precious Pearlie.

“I can translate for you if you wanted to talk with them,” Marina offered. The Captain had wanted to check on the octolings when he’d been informed of their rescue, but he’d made no effort to actually approach them so far.

“I speak a passable amount of octarian myself,” Captain Cuttlefish responded. “But I do appreciate the offer. I expect you or Eight’ll be teaching them inkling?”

Marina nodded. “We’re meeting up tomorrow to coordinate a lesson plan. With Off the Hook and her job at Sheldon’s, plus agent work, neither one of us can do this full time, but we have different schedules so we should be able to figure out regular lessons.” She grinned. “And Pearlie will be joining in where she can so she can at least learn conversational octarian. There was a bit of a language barrier on this mission, I’m afraid.”

Captain Cuttlefish nodded. “To be expected. Schools these days don’t seem to be in support of teaching what they believe to be dead languages. I had to teach my own granddaughters when they joined the New Squidbeak Splatoon.” He shook his head. “Maybe that’s about to change. Soon enough, there’ll be octoling children of school age running around Inkopolis.”

Marina’s hearts skipped and her eyes stung. “Wow…octolings and other octarians that have never had to live underground. I…never thought that would be a reality.”

“We will make it a reality,” Captain Cuttlefish assured her. “I will personally see to it.”

Marina nodded, wiping at her eyes as the tears threatened to trickle down her cheeks. “Yeah, we all will.”

Suddenly, Calamari Inkantation began playing. Captain Cuttlefish pulled his phone out of his pocket to check it. “That’s Agent Two, probably wondering when I’m coming home. The silly girl’s always worrying about me. I may be a dried out husk, but I’m still kickin’!”

Marina giggled. “She loves you. They both do. You should probably answer that so she doesn’t worry.”

“I’ll call her back in a minute.” Captain Cuttlefish stood and returned his phone to his pocket. “I should be getting back, anyway. Wouldn’t be fair to make Agents One and Two guard Octavio after pulling two missions back to back. Not with the first mission being so eventful.”

“Understood.” Marina rose from her chair. “Did you want to talk to the octolings before you leave?”

Captain Cuttlefish glanced in the room, a thoughtful expression on his face, and then shook his head. “I’m sure they’ve got enough to think about for now. They shouldn’t have to focus on anything else but their recovery.”

Marina nodded. “Fair enough. I’ll walk you to the door. I know this place is confusing for anyone who hasn’t visited a dozen or so times.”

Captain Cuttlefish chuckled. “I’d expect nothing less from Houzuki Manor.”

Marina was pretty sure that wasn’t the official name of this building, but that wasn’t worth bringing up. She just grinned and headed to the door that’d take them to the main hall, going slowly so the captain could keep up. They didn’t talk much on the way out, but they didn’t need to - there was far too much to think about. For once, at least, the thoughts were mostly good. Maybe today had started rocky and unpleasant, but a lot of good had happened too, and a lot more good was promised.

She couldn’t wait to see it all unfold.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that made sense all the way through. ^.^; It's been through...a few rewrites...and still isn't perfect. I'm declaring it done and posting it anyway because it is close-ish, and probably the best I can do at my current skill level.
> 
> Sorry on behalf of Marie, by the way. I was actually playing through hero mode on a secondary account while writing this and the first fic in the series, and being attached to Eight and the idea that octarians can be good guys made me realize that she refers to the enemies as "octoslobs" quite a lot. XD I mean, that's not the worst insult she could use, but it was more than a little uncomfortable, since I was in Eight's head through a good part of it. And, even though I didn't write it in, they totally did all go to dinner somewhere with Marie footing the bill...just not that night.
> 
> When I posted Under the Surface, this fic was pretty much done. It took that long and a suggestion from my wife to decide on a title. Right now, I'm somewhere between the beginning and the middle of fic 3, so it might be a bit before it shows up. I have a bit of a reputation for being a slow writer, I'm afraid. I write a little every day, but I've been known to erase what I write if it doesn't flow right. This can be a sentence, a couple days' work, a whole scene, or even the entire fic. Having said that, fic 3 is another one-shot, isn't particularly heavy on plot, and I think i'm at least satisfied enough with what I have so far that I won't be scrapping huge sections. We'll see what happens. There WILL be more, definitely. I'm just not sure when, as I don't post a story until I'm sure I've done the best I can with it.


End file.
